Biogenic amines (BAs) are nitrogenous compounds which are mainly produced by decarboxylation of amino acids or by amination and transamination of aldehydes and ketones. These biogenic amines are low molecular weight compounds and synthesized in the metabolism of microorganisms, plants and animals, and thus biogenic amines are known as components frequently found in these cells. In particular, biogenic amines are polyamines such as spermidine, spermine, putrescine or 1,4-butanediamine, and cadaverine.
In general, putrescine is an important raw material for production of polyamine nylon-4,6 which is produced by reacting putrescine with adipic acid. Putrescine is usually produced by chemical synthesis involving conversion of propylene to acrylonitrile and to succinonitrile.
As a production method of putrescine using a microorganism, a method of producing putrescine at a high concentration by transformation of E. coli and Corynebacterium has been reported (International Patent Publication No. WO06/005603; International Patent Publication No. WO09/125924; Qian Z D et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 104: 4, 651-662, 2009; Schneider et al., Appl. Microbiol, Biotechnol. 88; 4, 859-868, 2010; Schneider et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 95, 169-178, 2012). Furthermore, studies have been actively conducted on putrescine transporters in E. coli, yeast, plant and animal cells (K Igarashi, Plant Physiol. Biochem. 48: 506-512, 2010).
Meanwhile, cadaverine is a foul-smelling diamine compound produced by protein hydrolysis during putrefaction of animal tissues. Cadaverine has the chemical formula of NH2(CH2)5NH2, which is similar to that of putrescine.
Cadaverine serves as a component of polymers such as polyamide or polyurethane, chelating agents, or other additives. In particular, polyamide having an annual global market of 3.5 million tons is known to be prepared by polycondensation of cadaverine or succinic acid, and thus cadaverine has received much attention as an industrially useful compound.
Cadaverine is a diamine found in a few microorganisms (Tabor and Tabor, Microbiol Rev., 49:81-99, 1985). In the gram negative bacterium E. coli, cadaverine is biosynthesized from L-lysine by L-lysine decarboxylase. The level of cadaverine in E. coli is regulated by biosynthesis, degradation, uptake and export of cadaverine (Soksawatmaekhin et al., Mol Microbiol., 51:1401-1412, 2004).